1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of identifying, locating, and monitoring of equipment or other objects. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically identifying, locating, and monitoring electrical and electronic equipment by use of radio frequency identification transponders and readers.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Finding electrical and electronic equipment within a facility, such as an office or hospital, has generally been performed by "word of mouth." Obviously, the larger the area or the more buildings within a facility, the more difficult it becomes to identify and locate equipment. In a smaller office environment, identifying and locating equipment is merely a nuisance which affects productivity and causes frustration; in a larger office facility it can be more troublesome. Further, in certain facilities, for example, in a hospital environment, identifying and locating equipment can mean the difference between life and death.
Several solutions to the problem of identifying and locating electrical and electronic equipment have been tried with limited success. For example, simple inventory control and sign-out sheets have been found to be labor intensive, inaccurate and, as a result, ineffective for identifying and locating equipment. Further, sign-out sheets do not allow for monitoring equipment, for example, determining if a piece of equipment is drawing power, whether the piece of equipment is functioning properly or needs maintenance, and the like In another example, bar codes have been used. As shown in FIG. 1, bar coding of equipment a allows one to identify and locate the equipment by scanning the bar code with a portable bar code scanner b. However, bar coding becomes ineffective when the equipment has been moved since it was last scanned. Moreover, the use of bar codes can require the labor-intensive step of touring the facility with one or more portable scanners b. Further, bar codes do not allow for monitoring of the equipment as discussed above.
In another example, radio frequency identification (RFID) can be used by attaching a RFID transponder to the equipment to be identified and located. However, this method is only effective if one is willing to go to the effort of placing the equipment within the "read range" of a corresponding RFID reader. This often will not happen. Consequently, the unit to be located is essentially "lost" if located at a substantial distance from the last point that the RFID transponder was read. Moreover, the vast differences in equipment shape and size can make it difficult to expose the RFID transponder to the corresponding reader for identification. Finally, unless the transponder is continuously within the read range of the reader, monitoring of the equipment as discussed above is either difficult or not possible.
Accordingly, its an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for identifying, locating and/or monitoring equipment or other objects.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for identifying, locating and/or monitoring equipment or other objects by using transponders and readers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for identifying, locating and/or monitoring equipment or other objects by using radio frequency identification transponders and readers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for identifying, locating, and/or monitoring equipment or other objects by using radio frequency transponders in a way that will assure that the transponder is automatically and consistently in the read range of a radio frequency reader.